


Faith

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Father-Daughter Relationship, Grief/Mourning, Missing Scene, Stream of Consciousness, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 03:38:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9302489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: The grief he feels for his mother eases onto him gradually, gently, like low-tide waves onto the Island.But the grief he feels for his daughter strikes him harshly and all at once, like the terrible, terrible sea.Tui, when his daughter leaves.





	

She is gone, his mother is gone, and as he stumbles back into his _fale_ more numb than devastated (though devastation will come, he knows, and all too well, as he is reminded every time he looks at the sea), Tui’s thoughts dwell on his daughter, on comforting her. She more than anyone in the village was close with his mother, and he has never quite learned how to deal with his own grief, much less that of others. In that aspect of his leading the village, he always has relied on his mother to help, she always helped…And now...

Still, he will have to try. And he supposes he can begin by apologizing to her for his earlier comment about the boats. He won’t burn them, at least not yet. They will discuss it. He will listen to her. And she must know that he only is afraid for her, _loves_ her more than his own life. Surely she understands that...And yes, she will be a wonderful chief, a wonderful leader to their people, but, though he would never admit it, he loves her _more_ than the people, more than the Island even, and if ever he had to choose between his Island, his people, his own life, and her, he would sacrifice them all for her without question...She must know that...she must know…

He walks into the house, his apology ready on his lips, only to find that Sina is alone. “Where’s Moana?”

“Gone.” His wife will not look him in the eye.

“ _Gone?_ What do you mean, gone?”

“She left. For sea.”

“What?!” Sina cannot be correct about this. She can’t. Moana has wandered, perhaps, back to the cave to look at the ancient boats, to be comforted in the last place she was with her grandmother—but not to get into one and sail away, she wouldn’t, she _wouldn’t,_ (she _would_ )—and Sina must have misunderstood, must have gotten confused. “How do you know this?”

“I helped her pack.”

It is not anger he feels, not even betrayal, but shock, and a grief more powerful than any he anticipates will come for his mother. It carries him to the ground as he utters: “You...why would you... _how_ could you do this?”

Sina kneels down next to him, places a hand on his back. “She was going, Tui. There was nothing I could do to stop her.”

“You could have _tried!_ ”

“And what good would that have done? Have her starve out on the sea because she didn’t bring enough food with her? Have her leave, thinking her parents didn’t support her? She needed to know that we love her.”

Tui gazes at Sina for a moment, afraid to ask the questions banging around his skull. _Does she? Does she know I love her? Or does she think I see her just as the future chief of our people? Will that be...the last...she thinks of me?_

“I cannot lose her too, Sina.”

“I know.”

And then, all at once he feels a wave of anger come over him, hot as Te Ka was in the old stories, and he _explodes_ off the ground. “ _Why?!_ Why did she have to do this, why has she always had this ridiculous compulsion to go sail beyond the reef?! Why could she not have been content with staying _here_ , leading her people?!”

“You really don’t know?”

“No, I really don’t!”

“Because she is like you.” 

Ah, _this_ he knows all too well. When he speaks, his voice is full of bitterness and not quite as much irony as he expects. “Well, not enough, because I assume that _she_ didn’t bring someone else to die in her place!”

Sina sighs. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what?”

“She _loves_ her people.”

And at once, the anger is gone, replaced with a thousand images: Moana harvesting coconuts, Moana helping the fishermen unload their boats, Moana comforting a child, Moana in a headdress presenting herself to the people, Moana standing with him on the mountain overlooking the whole of the Island, Moana admiring the stack of rocks he and his ancestors have built. A lump develops in his throat, and when he speaks, water as salty as the terrible sea eases out of his eyes. “Then how could she leave them?”

“Because she believes she can save them. She has the Heart of Te Feti—”

“It’s just a _story_ , Sina!”

“You don’t really believe that, do you?

“It’s one that our people have been telling for generations, it’s kept us together, it’s kept us here, and that’s wonderful. It is. But it’s just a story!”

“But the Gods—”

“Gave us this Island and then left us alone!”

“You don’t believe—”

“How can I, Sina, when They would take my best friend from me, just because we journeyed beyond the reef? When They would start killing our Island, taking all the fish and coconuts away? When They would take my mother and daughter both from me on the same day?”

She walks over to him, stands in front of him, grips his hands, looks directly into his eyes. “Well,” she says softy. “If you can’t have faith in Them, then do something else for me.”

“What.”

“Have faith in her.”

And more images flood his mind. Moana's longing staring at the sea as a child, Moana'a ease as she dances next to his mother before the sea, Moana's eyes just earlier this evening brimming with hope and resolution. She is _alive_ , he knows somehow, intuitively. With such drive, she must be, she _must._ Alive, alive, _alive_.

And he knows, too, suddenly, with a conviction that he does not recall ever feeling before, that his next words are not a lie. 

“I _do._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
